Many couples seem to feel a wedding has to cost the world. They max out their credit cards or wipe out their savings for one single day, rather than saving it for the rest of their lives they have together. I didn't do that. My wedding cost me a whopping $600 with the rings and dress included. Minus one heck of an Alaskan windstorm, looking back, I wouldn't change a thing either. It was everything a wedding should be.
Opting for nature
When I said I didn't want to get married in a church or rent a venue, people kind of gave me eyeballs. Honestly, though, nature builds more beautiful back drops than any human could ever dare-and it's free. The only downside is you become at the weather's mercy. I got married on my dad's five acres in an opening in the woods of Alaska complete with bonfire. We built our own wood benches for the affair out of existing lumber we already had.
Shopping thrifty
When it came to the two most expensive items a wedding often daunts, the dress and rings, we turned to eBay rather than some expensive jeweler or dress maker. My husband and I both prefer silver to gold, so we had a seller, who appropriately was named, "The Dwarf" make us custom silver Nordic rune engraved rings. They were about $50 with a special coating to help them last. My dress, I bought from a renaissance dress maker in London, England. It was custom made based on measurements I took, and cost me $140 with shipping. My husband-to-be had a suit he wanted to wear, so we only bought him a new tie and under jacket to match the wedding colors, that cost another $30.
Feeding the hoard
Now at little under $200 we have a location, dress, suit, and rings. The next check was food and music. On our invitations we requested people bring food and drink rather than gifts. I didn't want a new toaster anyway. The result was way more food than we could possibly eat with a very, warm, home-cooked feel. We did build the basics though, not knowing what would be brought, which cost about $300 including two massive slabs of prime rib and the cake. For music, we found a local DJ friend who was willing to do it for free, and for photos we just asked for copies of everyone's photos. There were probably 20 people taking photos at our wedding, some of which with very high-end personal cameras, for free.
So, there you have it, around $600 on a wedding that was true to the old days where a wedding was just a festival like gathering of people who loved the couple, and wanted to celebrate their union-just how it should be.
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More from this contributor:
Photo Slide of my $600 Wedding
Superstitions About Weddings and Marriage
Once Upon a Time in Alaska: A Love Story
